Dexter Hamilton

Dexter R. Hamilton handles complex litigation matters for major corporations, governmental organizations, and nonprofit entities. He is an experienced trial attorney and practices in the areas of commercial litigation, construction litigation, products liability, and toxic tort litigation.

In the past few years, he has tried five major jury trials to verdict including three commercial matters, a legal malpractice case and a products liability matter involving a potentially fatal disease. He has been lead counsel in complex matters in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and North Carolina.

Dexter also serves as general counsel for a health system and advises the organization in a variety of matters including litigation, labor and employment, compliance, contracts, internal investigations, and corporate governance.

He leads the Philadelphia Trial Group, a select group of experienced trial attorneys who are uniquely qualified to defend, prosecute, or try significant matters in the Philadelphia state and federal courts. Dexter serves as a Judge Pro Tempore for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, where he presides at settlement conferences. He is a member of the board of the Lawyers Club of Philadelphia.

Active in a number of civic and community activities, Dexter has served on the board of directors of the Bethesda Project, an organization that serves the chronically homeless; on the board of Phil-Mont Christian Academy, a K-12 school; and was appointed by the Mayor of Philadelphia to the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. Currently, he serves on the board of The Sullivan Trust and is a member of The Historical Society of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Dexter earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1987, where he was the recipient of the Civil Trial Advocacy Award and was elected by his peers to be an officer of his graduating class. He earned his B.A., magna cum laudefrom Widener University in 1983, where he was recognized as the most outstanding student in political science. He was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania in 1987 and in New Jersey in 1990.

EXPERIENCE :

• Represented a manufacturer in a commercial dispute with a distributor.  Plaintiff’s initial damages estimate was $26,000,000.  After a jury trial and a second trial on damages only, Plaintiff was awarded less than a million dollars.
• Represented a worker’s compensation insurance company in a lawsuit against a broker for negligence and a policyholder for fraud.  The damages alleged were in excess of $4,000,000.  Successfully proved fraud against the policyholder by clear and convincing evidence.
• Outside general counsel for a mid-sized health system and advises in the areas of litigation, labor and employment, regulatory, contracts, internal investigations and corporate governance
• Won a $1.3 million jury verdict for The City of Philadelphia in connection with a fire at the Fairmount Waterworks Engine House, which was built in 1815 and was our nation’s first municipal waterworks.
• Assisted the manufacturer of a well-known vitamin supplement with the resolution of consumer protection claims in the states of Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
• Represented a Canadian paper manufacturer in a catastrophic industrial accident involving a fatality and serious chemical burns.
• Represented an international insurance company in multimillion dollar railroad worker occupational disease insurance coverage disputes.
• Represented a nonprofit provider of health and social services in connection with a term loan agreement secured by the borrower’s real and personal property.
• Represented a gas utility in a high exposure contract dispute related to the use of a 10,000-mile interstate transmission pipeline system.
• Represented an international manufacturer of food packing products in a commercial dispute with a national distributor.

EDUCATION :

• University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., 1987
• Widener University, B.A., magna cum laude, 1983

BAR ADMISSIONS : New Jersey; Pennsylvania

COURT ADMISSIONS :

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court — New Jersey
• U.S. Supreme Court

AFFILIATIONS :

• American Bar Association
• Barristers Association of Philadelphia
• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• Philadelphia Bar Association